the Crusades, to the romantic middle ages, the Rhine rings its
true note in the gamut, and rings it loudly. It has played a great part
in history, and to its geographical and political importance is added
the always potent charm of natural beauty.

The church-builder and his followers, too, were important factors in it
all, for one of the glories of all modern European nations will ever be
their churches and the memories of their churchmen of the past.

III

THE CHURCH IN GERMANY

There have been those who have claimed that the two great blessings
bestowed upon the world by Germany are the invention of printing by
Gutenberg, which emanated from Mayence in 1436, and the Reformation
started by Luther at Wittenberg in 1517. The statement may be open to
criticism, but it is hazarded nevertheless. As to how really religious
the Germans have always been, one has but to recall Schiller's "Song of
the Bell." Certainly a people who lay such stress upon opening the
common every-day life with prayer must always have been devoted to
religion.

The question of the religious tenets of Germany is studiously avoided in
this book, as far as making comparisons between the Catholic and
Protestant religions is concerned.

At the finish of the "Thirty Years' War," North Germany had become
almost entirely Protestant, and many of the former bishops' churches
had become by force of circumstances colder and less attractive than
formerly, even though many of the Lutheran churches to-day keep up some
semblance of high ceremony and altar decorations. It is curious,
however, that many of these churches are quite closed to the public on
any day but Sunday or some of the great holidays.

In the Rhine provinces the Catholic faith has most strongly endured. In
the German Catholic cathedrals the morning service from half-past nine
to ten is usually a service of much impressiveness, and at Cologne,
beloved of all stranger tourists, nones, vespers, and compline are sung
daily with much devotion.

The ecclesiastical foundation in Germany is properly attributable to
monkish influences. Between the Rhine and the Baltic there were no
cities before the time of Charlemagne, although the settlements
established there by the Church for the conversion of the natives were
the origin of the communities from which sprang the great cities of
later years.

The monkish orders were ever a powerful body of church-builders, and
north of the Alps in the